


Our Hearts Were Wrong

by SecretlyAnonymous



Series: Sinners to be Saints [5]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Time Travel, introspective, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23888176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretlyAnonymous/pseuds/SecretlyAnonymous
Summary: Stoick introspection
Relationships: Stoick the Vast/Valka
Series: Sinners to be Saints [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669822
Comments: 4
Kudos: 125





	Our Hearts Were Wrong

His whole life, Stoick had known that he was a dragon killer. Dragons were to be hated, vile creatures of hunger and malice and laziness that would sooner burn the village than hunt for their own food.

He defined himself by fighting dragons. Every raid, he counted each kill, each capture. He participated in classes for upcoming warriors, providing examples for each class to follow. His father taught him to lead the village when it was burnt to the ground. His mother taught him to love the village when it was sinking. He spent his entire childhood fighting, burning, rebuilding, and through it all, a feeling of anger, of hate, burned through him.

It was ingrained in his culture to hate dragons. There was not a  Berkian in nearly four hundred years who didn’t hate dragons. Then he met Valka, and his world turned on its head. How could anyone not hate dragons? Didn’t they hurt and burn and kill?

Don’t you hunt and hurt and kill, Valka retorted, hands on her hips, and that was the day Stoick fell for her.

They kill our people, he’d argued, and they take our livestock.

They need to eat, she said, just like you and me.

The argument was never resolved, really, but Stoick still asked her to marry him. How could he not spend his life with someone who believed so wholeheartedly in such an ideal world?

Hiccup’s birth was a time of great joy and great dread. He and Valka argued a lot, but it was mostly in good fun. Their entire relationship was built on debate and arguments. They knew they wouldn’t be able to change each other, and neither of them wanted to… but with a child, they’d both want to raise him their way. And  Stoick’s way was not Valka’s way. 

“He’ll need to know how to fight,” Stoick said. “I don’t want him to be a fighter,” Valka shot back.

They let it go. Hiccup was a baby. He couldn’t fight right now even if he wanted to. 

Life continued. Valka made Hiccup a little dragon toy. Hiccup burst into tears and threw it into the ocean. It didn’t mean anything.

Raids happened. Stoick fought. Valka tried to stop the fighting. 

Then Valka was gone. Stoick juggled parenting and  chiefing for five years and he wondered how he was supposed to do Valka justice when they were so different.

“Six,” Hiccup said to the man, and the man turned to Stoick, staring with familiar eyes, and  Stoick’s heart ached. “We are very invested in Berk’s future,” and that combined with the phrase time travel had Stoick leaping to conclusions… but there was no way in  hel . Nope. 

But this man looked like Valka, and he was from the future, and he hated Drago  Bludvist , and he looked so sad when he looked at Stoick, and Stoick almost cried right then and there, in front of the entire village. But he’d been taught better, so he pulled himself together, and lifted his son onto his hip, and told everyone to get going, get repairing. He’d like an actual village by morning and not a pile of ruins, thank you very much.

Three days later, the man was in  Stoick’s house, muttering, “she loves you, you know?” and Stoick was still reeling from hearing your wife isn’t dead so he kind of just nodded his head, because of course Valka loves him… right?

“I can take you to her, if you want, but you’ll have to change your opinion on dragons.”

“I’ll try,” Stoick promised.

He didn’t know how he would actively influence his own thoughts, but it turned out to be easier than he thought. Generations of hate weren’t going away anytime soon, but there soon came a day when he didn’t flinch at the sight of a dragon. That was the day his grown son nodded at him and took him to meet a deadly  nadder .

“This will be your ride to the sanctuary. His name is Cutter.”

Stoick blinked, baffled, but agreed. Hiccup helped him onto the dragon’s back and began coaching him through some basic commands. 

Before they left, Stoick had questions. He’d thought, originally, that his son was some Drago  Bludvist copycat, but this young man didn’t seem anything like the man Stoick met years ago.

Hiccup just shook his head. “I’m sorry I gave you that impression. I’m not Drago. I ask the dragons to be my friend, and they usually agree. I don’t control them.” 

Enough time had passed that the passing sight of a dragon person wasn’t unusual, so no one payed them much attention when they walked through the village.  Stoick put  Spitelout in charge and asked the  Thorstons to watch Hiccup while he was gone. 

Then Hiccup climbed onto Toothless and took off. A gesture from Stoick and Cutter followed close behind. It was still a three day trip until they reached “the sanctuary.”

Stoick ignored the butterflies in his stomach.


End file.
